NY Board of Regents tries to stop cheating

By
Art McFarland
and Web produced by Jennifer Matarese, Eyewitness News

NEW YORK --

The New York State Board of Regents has approved committee findings that it is time for a change in giving and scoring state tests.

Commissioner of Special Investigations, Richard Condon, is handling cases of test score cheating.

"Says there are a significant number of abuses by educators manipulating test scores," Condon said.

For the first time, teachers will be banned from grading the standardized tests of their own students, because more than ever, test scores and being used to evaluate teachers and principals.

"We would never ask a student to grade their own test; and in some sense, that is sort of what has happened in the past, is that you're asking teachers to score their students' tests, or students from their own schools," said Matthew Johnson, of Columbia Teachers College.

There will also be tighter controls over answer sheets.

The Commissioner's Office has uncovered a variety of ways to cheat.

Earlier this year, a former teacher at a school under investigation told Eyewitness News, anonymously, about alleged abuses by its principal.

"She circumvents all the rules, that's why, you know, changing the grades, she cheats," the teacher said.

The Board of Regents will ask lawmakers for funds to pay for extensive anti-cheating methods.